Commercial protein shakes are expensive and they are often bland.  For a more delicious health drink, we have some great-tasting protein shake recipes below that you can try at home.

How to make a delicious protein shake

     1. First, find a protein powder that you like.  There are different brands of protein powders that are commercially available, and they come in a variety of flavors such as vanilla, chocolate, cookies and cream, etc.  Whey protein powder is the most popular.  It contains high levels of amino acids that are more readily absorbed by the body.  Other types of protein powder include soy protein and egg protein.  Protein shake recipes often call for 1 to 2 scoops of protein powder.

     2. Add fresh fruits, peanut butter, nuts and other flavors.  Choose ingredients that will add to the nutritional value as well as flavor.  Fruits provide carbohydrates and vitamins while nuts and peanut butter add protein.

     3. Add liquid such as water, fruit juice, or milk.  Usually, you will need 1 to 1-1/2 cups liquid.  Add the liquid slowly until you get the desired consistency.  You can also add some ice cubes or crushed ice for volume and thickness.

     4. Try different protein shake recipes.  The variations are limitless, and you can add whatever ingredients are available.  Homemade protein shake recipes give you the freedom to experiment with ingredients that will provide the nutrition and flavors that you are aiming for.

Banana and Peanut Butter Protein Shake Recipe
1 cup skim milk
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 banana
2 scoops whey protein powder
Blend all ingredients together until smooth for a delicious high-protein shake.

Banana & Strawberry Protein Shake Recipe
6 frozen strawberries
1 frozen banana
1-1/4 cups water
2 tablespoons protein powder
Put all ingredients in a blender and process until smooth.

Recipe for Fruit and Yogurt Protein Shake
1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1 cup yogurt, vanilla flavored
1-1/2 cups skim milk
2 scoops whey protein powder
1 tablespoon honey
Place all ingredients in a blender.  Blend until smooth.

Chocolate and Mint Protein Shake Recipe
2 scoops chocolate-flavored protein powder
1 cup vanilla ice cream, sugar free
2 cups non-fat milk
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup water
a dash of peppermint
Place ingredients in a blender.  Blend until smooth.

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You don’t have to starve yourself or deprive your body of essential nutrients if you are trying to shed excess pounds.  By eating healthy foods to lose weight, you’ll burn off body fat and get into the habit of eating nutritious food that will help keep the extra pounds from coming back.

List of healthy foods for weight loss

The best way to lose weight is by sticking to a low-calorie, low-fat diet combined with regular exercise.  However, you must make sure your body gets all the proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and fat that it needs.  You can do this if you eat healthy foods that will help you get rid of body fat.

• Fruits.  Fruits aid in weight loss because they contain high amounts of fiber that keep you feeling full.  The following fruits provide vitamins, minerals and antioxidants without a lot of calories: apples, bananas, berries, grapes, guava, pineapple, watermelon, peach, oranges, limes, papaya and guava.

• Vegetables.  Like fruits, many vegetables are high in fiber and nutrients but low in calories.  If you want to lose weight, eat more vegetables including spinach, beans, broccoli, sprouts, celery, lentils, cucumber, tomato, cabbage, carrots, pumpkin, corn, radish, lettuce, radish, beets, etc.

• Poultry and dairy products.  To stay healthy while you lose weight, your body also needs proteins and calcium from eggs, low-fait dairy products, chicken and fish.

• Other foods.  The following healthy foods will also aid in weight loss: protein shakes, smoothies, brown rice, herbal tea, fresh citrus fruit juices, whole wheat bread and pasta, tofu and popcorn.

Develop healthy eating habits

It can be difficult breaking a lifetime of bad eating habits.  But if you are serious about losing weight and having a healthier body, you have to start somewhere.  Learn to choose foods that are nutritious and low on calories.  Stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables that you like.  Have a healthy snack of carrot sticks and cucumbers instead of potato chips or chocolates.

Instead of “going on a diet,” teach yourself to acquire healthy eating habits that will help you lose weight naturally.  When you get into the habit of eating healthy foods to lose weight, you’ll be able to burn body fat and keep it off for life.

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Juicing makes it easier and more convenient for people to get the nutrients and enzymes they need from vegetables and fruits.  You’ll love the 5 juicer recipes given below. 

They’re easy, healthy and delicious!

Juicer Recipe #1 – Anti Aging Juice
• 3 carrots
• a handful of parsley

Use an electric juice extractor.  Press carrots and parsley through the juicer.

Juicer Recipe #2 – Juice for Smooth Skin
• one-half medium size cucumber
• one-third of a medium red pepper
• one-half of a medium green pepper

Press the vegetables through an electric juicer.  Whisk to combine.

Juicer Recipe #3 – Antioxidants
• 8 large carrots
• 2 peeled oranges

Using an electric juice extractor, press and juice the carrots and oranges.  Whisk to combine.

Juicer Recipe #4 – Juice for Energy
• 2 apples
• 1/2 of a cucumber
• 1/2 peeled lemon
• 1/2 cup kale
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 1/4 bunch of celery
• 1/4 bulb of fennel
• 1 inch ginger
• 1/4 head of romaine lettuce

Press all ingredients through an electric juicer. Whisk to combine.

Juicer Recipe #5 – Stress Reducer
• 2 medium sized oranges, peeled
• 200 grams raspberries

Use an electric juice extractor.  Press the fruits through the juicer.  Whisk to combine.

Benefits of Juicing

Juicing fruits and vegetables makes it easier to get all the nutrients that you need for a healthier body.  Juicing helps your body absorb, digest and utilize the enzymes, vitamins and minerals in vegetables and fruits.  Fresh juices also help detoxify and cleanse your body.

Juices are delicious and easy to prepare.  They can take the place of a full meal or half a meal.  In a matter of minutes, you can prepare a juicer recipe that provides exactly what you need.  Nutrients in liquid form can be absorbed more quickly.  If you are pressed for time and you have some planned activities ahead you can grab a few fruits and whip up a juicer recipe that will boost your energy to get you through the day.

Aside from being packed with nutrients, juices contain water that the body needs to keep hydrated.  Freshly made fruit and vegetable juice is so much better than the juices you find at the supermarket.  With the right juicer recipe, you can have a glass or two of delicious and healthy juice to cleanse your body and provides all the energy and nutrients that you need.

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However, most people do not have easy access to a raw food restaurant and even if you do, you will have to eat in a standard restaurant from time to time. Social occasions are always a challenge for people who are following a raw food diet but eating out can be great if you handle it right.

First, you need to be aware that most people are not able to tell you what is raw and what is not. It is not their fault, so there is no point getting angry.

The question of what ‘raw’ means is not something they ever think about. Amazingly, a lot of people will expect you to eat ordinary bread. Until they think about it, they tend to assume that any food that is normally served cold is raw.

So if you are eating in a restaurant, do not ask the staff, “Is the salad dressing raw?” They will say yes, of course, because the chef does not cook the salad dressing. However, it will almost certainly contain some cooked or heat-processed ingredients such as soy sauce, pasteurized vinegar, heat-pressed oils, mustard etc.

Instead, ask for plain salad with no dressing, and bring your own which you will make from cold pressed extra virgin olive oil, raw vinegar with mother, freshly squeezed lemon juice, blended avocado and tomato or whatever type of truly raw dressing you like.

It is sometimes a good idea to contact the restaurant before you arrive (before you even reserve a table, if possible) to plan what you will eat and ask what exactly is in all the apparently raw dishes on the menu such as salads and fruit salads.

This can be a time consuming process and it is better done on the telephone earlier in the day when the restaurant is not busy and your friends are not sitting there waiting for their food wondering why you cannot just go ahead and order like a normal person!

If you cannot talk to the restaurant ahead of time in this way, the quickest and most effective way to handle a menu is to have a quick look at the choices to see what they have in the kitchen and then say, “Can you please make me a HUGE salad with spinach, avocado and bell peppers [or whatever raw ingredients you saw on the menu], nothing else, and no dressing.”

Then check it when it arrives, because you will often find that you have the dressing anyway. Maybe restaurant staff have a blind spot when it comes to salad dressing.

It’s like it flies out of the bottle and drizzles itself on your salad without anyone being aware of it. This may be because restaurant chefs who take a pride in their work want to make everything they produce taste as delicious as possible, and dressing does that. They add it automatically.

Remember, in this situation you are a missionary for the raw food way. It is important to see the funny side and show people that going raw does not mean becoming uptight and super critical of the cooked world.

You will also have a lot more fun in your raw food restaurant experiments if you can stay cool.

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The general population believes that protein is almost only found in animal products. In fact a lot of people have trouble believing that a vegetarian who eats milk and cheese is not getting enough protein.

If you cut out these as well and become vegan, especially raw vegan where you will not eat processed meat substitutes, a lot of the people you meet will be anxiously examining you for signs of protein deficiency. They probably would not be surprised if you dropped down dead in front of them just from not eating meat.

Of course this is ridiculous. There are many raw food protein sources, even for raw vegans who do not eat raw meat or unpasteurized dairy products. What is more, most people in western societies consume far more protein than they need.

According to the World Health Organization, human beings require around 5% of the calories that they eat to come from protein. The USDA has a higher recommendation of 6.5%. This means that a person eating 2000 calories per day needs

The WHO (World Health Organization) says humans need about 5% of their daily calories to come from protein to be healthy. The USDA puts this figure at 6.5%. Now let’s look at the foods that people on a raw food diet eat.

Vegetables

Vegetables contain the highest proportion of protein for energy, with around 10% of their calories coming from protein. This is way more than we need even on the American calculation.

Of course, it would be very difficult to get enough calories by eating only vegetables, but it will surprise most people to hear how much protein there is in a food like broccoli or cabbage.

Nuts and Seeds

Nuts and seeds are higher in protein weight for weight but of course they also contain a lot of fat which adds to their calorie content. Generally you will get between 5% and 10% of calories from protein when you eat nuts and seeds.

Fruit

Fruits carry the lowest protein to energy ratio with around 2% to 4% of their calories coming from protein. This means that if your diet consisted entirely of fruit, you probably would not be getting enough protein. You would also be missing out on several minerals and vitamins.

As you see, it is not likely that anybody following a raw food diet will suffer from lack of protein unless they are trying to live entirely on fruit.

 Simply vary your diet, including a good variety of all raw foods, and you will automatically cover your protein requirements from plenty of different raw food protein sources.

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In fact, many adherents of raw would argue that our bodies are designed for raw food and have never adapted to cooked. There was no cooking stove in the garden of Eden, and the raw diet can be seen as one way of getting us back closer to the natural state that existed in those ancient times.

A raw vegan diet may have been followed by religious ascetics in many traditions in different periods in history. A notable example is the Belgian Saint Aibert, a Benedictine monk who lived to the age of 80 in the 11th and 12th centuries. However, raw foodism was hardly ever practiced for health reasons until the 20th century.

In the 20th century the scientist Arturi Virtanen discovered that when raw vegetables are chewed, enzymes are released in the mouth. These enzymes are killed by cooking above 115 degrees Fahrenheit.

Medical and biological science shows that enzymes are destroyed during digestion, but raw foodists argue that many benefits can be gained from these enzymes while they are in the mouth and upper stomach, before they reach the digestive juices.

Therefore a raw food movement began which proposed eating mainly or only foods that had not been heated above 115 degrees, which is warm enough to dry them but not hot enough to kill most living organisms. For this reason raw foods are often called living foods.

Early 20th century pioneers of the raw food movement included Ann Wigmore and Herbert Shelton. Ann Wigmore founded the Hippocrates Health Institute and promoted the beneficial effects of drinking wheatgrass juice. She died in 1994 at the age of 84 in a fire.

Herbert Shelton took the ideas of the Natural Hygiene movement of the 19th century and developed them into a raw food practice. He died in 1985 at the age of 90 from Parkinson’s Disease.

Raw foodism in the Natural Hygiene style is focused around getting most of your calories from fruit and avoiding the high fat content of some other raw diets.

In 1984 the raw food movement gained enormously in popularity following the publication of the book ‘Raw Energy: Eat Your Way To Radiant Health’ by the British writer Leslie Kenton in 1984. While Kenton advocated 75% raw food in the diet, many later writers propose going 100% raw.

Since then there has been a huge growth in interest and in publications, with many people now living and writing in the raw foodism movement both online and offline.

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Supporters of raw food diet weight loss programs say that it is virtually impossible to gain weight on raw food, especially if you are overweight to begin. For that reason there is no particular food plan to follow when you go raw.

The only rule is that you do not eat anything that has been cooked or processed using heat over 115 degrees Fahrenheit. This automatically rules out almost anything that you would buy in a package or a jar.

Even people of normal weight who switch to a raw diet usually lose weight. The exception might be people who eat a very large amount of nuts. Even then, you will probably find that you lose weight in the beginning.

If you hit a plateau where you stop losing for a while, you might want to consider your nut consumption and reduce it if it is very high. The raw food diet is sometimes criticized for having a high level of fat and the culprit is usually nuts.

Many nuts are anyway subject to heat processing to remove the shells when they are available commercially. It is best to buy nuts in their shells.

Cashews, macadamia nuts, brazils that you buy shelled and many other types of nuts are not really raw even if you buy them unroasted. The nuts in nut butters have also usually been heated in the processing.

When you do buy raw nuts such as filberts, it is best to soak them overnight before eating, to reactivate their growth enzymes. The same is true of seeds although seeds only need to be soaked for 2-4 hours. Pre soaking your nuts and seeds will help you avoid eating too many.

You can eat sprouted grains as well as many beans and lentils. These should be soaked overnight before sprouting in a jar or purpose made sprouting trays.

Red kidney beans should not be eaten raw because they are toxic. There are many other foods that contain some toxins which may or may not affect people depending on the quantities consumed and your sensitivity. 

These include buckwheat greens, alfalfa sprouts, cassava, peas, eggs in large quantities, apricot kernels, brassica vegetables and parsnips. Raw milk and raw meat may carry microbial disease including tuberculosis.

However, any raw food including lettuce can carry microbes that can give you food poisoning. Nobody cooks lettuce. Therefore raw foodists say that there is no point in stressing out about the idea of microbes on raw food.

They believe that the body is better equipped to deal with any disease, including food borne illnesses, when it is fed on a raw diet. Still, it is a good idea to always wash your food well.

If you do not plan to eat 100% raw food, then whatever cooked food you eat should be natural, whole, healthy foods.  Avoid refined grains like white rice and anything made with white flour including white bread and pasta.  It is best to avoid refined sugars and anything containing them.

The majority of your cooked food should be vegetables and perhaps some brown rice and low fat meat such as skinless chicken breast. 

For example in winter you might want to have vegetable soup with some chicken. Have salad as a first course before your cooked dish and finish with fresh raw fruit instead of any other type of dessert.

If you follow this plan then even on 75% raw you should have no trouble losing weight in a healthy way. Raw food diet weight loss plans do seem to work for anybody who is able to stick to them.

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Raw food is almost always healthier than the foods that most of us are choosing every day. If you eat only fresh, unprocessed foods, you will automatically cut out all refined sugars and flours and most fatty foods. During a raw cleanse, you will eat very simply and your body will thank you for that!

The raw cleanse can last from 7 to 10 days. You will need to do some planning ahead of time. Social occasions can be difficult when you are eating raw so if you want to make your detox as easy as possible, try to pick a period of time when you do not have any business lunches, restaurant meals or visits to family.

If people are visiting you that’s fine because you can control what you eat. It is possible to take your own food when eating at somebody else’s house but it can be hard for them to understand so it will be much simpler if you can find a clear week in your diary for your cleanse.

The day before your cleanse begins, try to eat as simply as possible with plenty of fruit and vegetables. Avoid eating a lot of meat or fatty, sugary foods and stay off alcohol.

 If you drink more than two cups of coffee/tea per day, cut down gradually in the days leading up to the cleanse to avoid caffeine withdrawal headaches during the cleanse.

Then begin your cleanse with a 24 hour fast, starting from the time that you finish your evening meal on the last day before the cleanse. So imagine I am starting a cleanse on a Saturday. I eat dinner on Friday evening, finishing at 7.30 pm.

I don’t eat or drink anything else after that except water, until 7.30 pm on Saturday, day 1 of the cleanse. Then I will have my first raw food meal.

During the cleanse you will eat anything that is the fresh, non-fatty fruit, leaves, stem or roots of a plant, without cooking it. This includes salad, vegetables and fruits.

You can have as much of these as you like, whenever you like, but do be sure to include at least one pound of green vegetables each day. This will give you a broader range of minerals than if you eat fruit only, which means you will have fewer cravings. Celery is great if you have cravings for salty foods.

Be sure to have a wide variety of ripe fruits and vegetables in the house at all times during your raw food cleanse. It is important to be able to have whatever type of fruit or vegetable you feel like eating.

There are a few fatty fruits that you should avoid. These include avocado, coconut and durian (jackfruit). You will also avoid nuts, seeds and oils.

There is no need for any dried herbs or seasonings, although you can use fresh herbs in small quantities if you want. You will not need any drinks other than water. Be sure to wash all foods well.

You can make a simple salad dressing by blending equal quantities of tomato and cucumber in the blender. Add a few herbs or red bell pepper if you want.

If you want to continue eating a raw food diet after the end of the cleanse, you can add some fats in the form of nuts, avocado, unpasteurized cheese etc. The cleanse program does not contain all of the fatty acids and other nutrients that are needed for a long term diet.

Be aware that you may have some detox symptoms in the first few days of the cleanse and in some cases these can be quite severe.

Check with your medical adviser before going on a raw food cleanse, especially if you are pregnant or nursing or have any pre existing medical conditions.

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Some people are taking up a raw food diet in the hope that this will help their body overcome cancer or recover from the effects of surgery and medications.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that some people have found raw food helpful in their battles against cancer. These are usually just individual reported cases.

For most people on a standard American or other western diet, switching to raw food may be very beneficial simply because you will be cutting out most of the processed and refined foods loaded with fats and sugar that place such a burden on our digestive systems and add to our weight.

A raw food diet is usually vegetarian and often vegan, although some people use unpasteurized milk and cheese if available.

Indeed there are some people who eat raw meat but if you wish to do this you should avoid pork and poultry and try to find grass reared organic beef so that you are not taking in large quantities of the hormones that are fed to most farmed cattle. Be aware that raw animal products can carry bacteria and are never recommended for pregnant women.

The raw vegan diet is the type that is most often followed by cancer patients. This involves eating only unprocessed and uncooked fruits, vegetables, seeds etc. No animal products are consumed at all.

You can use cold pressed oils but most other foods that come in a package will be heat treated in some way. Note that the vegan diet does not contain vitamin B12 and you may need to supplement this, although most people have enough stored to see them through for several years.

If you feel that adopting the raw food cancer diet 100% of the time is simply too much, try replacing one or two meals a day with raw. A green smoothie makes a great breakfast.

Simply put a couple of bananas or other fruit in the blender with a little water and some green leaves such as spinach or lettuce, or perhaps some celery.

For lunch you could try a raw salad of chopped cucumber, carrot and other vegetables with a dressing made from blended avocado and tomato, followed by fresh fruit. Add a few seeds for protein if you wish. Pumpkin seeds are particularly rich in zinc.

Raw food is generally much higher in antioxidants than cooked, and is believed by its advocates to be accepted by the body in a much more simple way. Raw food supporters claim that eating cooked food sets off an antibody response in the body which causes more stress to the digestive system.

Therefore, they argue that following a raw food diet will free up a lot of the body’s energy for dealing with the physical challenges of cancer. In some cases people have reported reduction of tumor sizes. In other cases, improving your nutrition may help your body handle the medications that you are probably taking to fight the cancer.

Most people have difficulty following a 100% raw food diet for a very long period. However, if you are suffering from cancer you might want to try it for a few months or even a year.

Alternatively, try increasing your consumption of raw foods or limiting cooked foods to one meal a day. When you do eat cooked foods, try to avoid sugar, white flour products and other highly refined or processed foods. Go for as natural as possible.

Of course you should consult with your medical advisor before taking up any special diet, especially if you are suffering from cancer or other medical conditions.

If your current doctor is very unsympathetic you could try seeking out one who is more attuned to natural health treatments. Do not try to apply raw food cancer treatment alone, but follow your doctor’s advice.

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Some people switch to raw permanently as a way of life, others go raw temporarily to lose weight or give their bodies a break while they fight disease. Either way, if you are considering going raw yourself, you need to know something about the rawfood diet.

Enzymes Present In Living Foods

Foods that have not been heated above 115 degrees Fahrenheit contain enzymes which are the life force of the food. The enzymes will die at high temperatures, like any living thing. This is why raw food is often called living food.

Advocates of the raw diet point out that before the use of fire for cooking, we would always have eaten raw foods and this is what our bodies are designed for. They consider that we need these enzymes to be truly healthy and help our bodies to heal.

While it is true that these enzymes are destroyed in the process of digestion, it may be that they can be absorbed in their living form in the mouth during chewing and in the upper stomach before they reach the digestive acids in the intestines.

In dried foods, the enzymes are often deactivated by growth inhibitors which puts foods such as seeds and grains into hibernation until conditions are wet enough for the plant to germinate or sprout.

For this reason, even if you plan to eat these foods without sprouting them, it is a good idea to soak all seeds, beans, grains etc before consuming them, to reactivate the enzymes. Throw out the soaking water because this will contain the discarded growth inhibitors.

Is Cooked Food Poisonous?

Some advocates of the rawfood diet talk as if cooked foods were poisonous. Although this is probably an exaggeration, research has shown that some toxins are produced in certain types of cooking.

For example, some oils and other fats will produce trans fats when heated above certain temperatures. Burned and even browned fatty food such as barbecued or fried meats has been shown to contain substances which are harmful to the body. And heating sugars together with proteins or fats (cakes, cookies, candy etc) is believed to produce glycotoxins. T

here are also many unnatural substances and additives in most processed foods. So if you do eat cooked food, it is better to prepare plain and simple boiled, steamed and stewed dishes from fresh ingredients.

What If I Cannot Be 100% Raw?

More and more people are adopting raw as their only food source these days but you do not necessarily have to buy into the 100% raw philosophy in order to benefit from eating more rawfood.

Just increasing the amount of rawfood in your diet can have an extraordinary effect on your health and wellbeing even if you still have some cooked food too.

So if you do not want to go all the way, consider replacing two meals a day with raw foods. You could have a large fruit based smoothie with some leafy greens added for breakfast, and a large green salad with avocado and sunflower seeds for lunch.

Or try grated carrot or celery root with pumpkin seeds. There are many delicious dishes you can make as part of your rawfood diet.

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